Foreigner
by Bamboofoxfire Productions
Summary: They don't know how that giant crater what wiped a whole town off the face of the earth came to be. He doesn't know how he got in this completely different world. Both those of the Black Order and Naruto have a lot of questions, and are lacking a lot of answers. And just as importantly for Naruto, how does he get back to the world he left behind, and how did he leave it?
1. The Boy in the Crater

**Foreigner  
Naruto and D Gray-Man crossover**

* * *

Lavi sighed as he trotted down the hall of the Order, adjusting his headband and combing messy red locks into place with his fingers. He audibly let out a sort of half-sigh, half-growl of annoyance as he plodded on in search of a certain white-haired companion of his, not really liking this last-minute sort of stuff, especially not when he was already busy, but it couldn't really be helped.

He was certain he knew where Allen was this particular time of day, making a bee-line for the dining hall, though if he turned out to be wrong, then he'd just have to keep looking.

Luck was on his side for the intuitive Bookman-to-be – not that it was difficult to guess - as he spotted the uniquely pale teen at one of the tables, just where Lavi thought he'd find him.

Stopping just in the doorway, he cupped his hands over his mouth as he called out, "_Oi_! Allen! Komui says he wants to see us lickety-split! Says it's urgent so hurry up and finish eating!"

The albino teen paused with a forkful of food halfway to its destination a la his mouth and swiveled around in his seat to give Lavi a questioning look. Of course the redhead didn't offer up any explanations so he could only assume his friend didn't know the details yet either.

"All right, I'll be there in just a minute!" he returned, before going back to his food and scarfing down what was left of it in a hurry, making record time.

He was mindful to return his plates to Jerry and quickly jogged to Komui's office, slipping on a couple of the papers that perpetually blanketed the Branch Head's floor.

The Chinese man was looking oddly serious, even for a mission briefing, but it would be a moot point to ask what seemed to have him so edgy since he was about to get an explanation anyway.

"There you are, Allen. I need to send you and Lavi out to investigate something post-haste. This is considered an emergency mission."

"What happened?" Allen questioned, his brows furrowing in concentrated concern as he came to stand by Lavi.

"Perhaps not even a full hour ago, a town was decimated. The next one over had a few finders investigating for signs of unusual activity when they saw the explosion from afar and went to see what happened before reporting back."

"What do you mean by _'decimated'_?" Lavi questioned with an unreadable expression.

"I mean the town has disappeared." Komui said somberly, dark eyes troubled. "It's completely gone. Only a massive crater remains where the town used to exist…and all of the people that were within it…"

Allen's grey-blue eyes widened. "But, how-?"

"We don't know yet. It could be the cause of Innocence…or of Akuma. It may even be the work of the Noah clan and the Earl himself, or a Level Four, though no for-sure information was reported by the Finders as to the cause." He paused for a moment and sighed. "Both of you, be extremely careful, and vigilant. We don't even know what we're dealing with just yet."

"Understood. Don't worry Chief, we'll be cautious." Lavi assured, offering a mock salute. "Just leave it to Allen and I."

* * *

"Oh man…" Lavi breathed, riding the handle of his hammer as it extended over the forest and valley, taking them more quickly to the scene of the carnage. "Komui wasn't kidding when he said there was nothing left."

Below stretched a massive dirt crater, seemingly a mile across. Only the faintest traces of rubble and debris from the buildings that had once taken up the space were visible, as if much of it had been incinerated into nothing but powder to intermingle with the dirt, and there was no visible trace of bodies out in the open.

Lavi could only assume that whatever bodies hadn't been destroyed and scattered must have been buried under the explosion of…whatever had caused this.

"This is awful…" Allen breathed in suppressed horror. "I can't believe a whole town…just…vanished like that."

"Well we'll get to the bottom of it," Lavi assured, more stoic than his fellow companion. He slowed their descent as they can to land at the very edge of the crater, Iron Hammer returning to a much smaller size.

The Junior Bookman's single green eye surveyed the surrounding devastation keenly, seeking out any of even the faintest traces of what might have happened to cause such destruction.

"Any clues about what could have happened?" Allen questioned, turning his gaze to Lavi.

"Well…I don't think it's the Earl or the Noah. A Level Four is still a possibility. Innocence could have been the cause as well…but this could have nothing to do with any of that too. Something else could be at work here."

Allen tilted his head in confusion. "Like what?"

"Maybe a meteor fell from space or something," the red-head proposed, pointing skyward. "Always a possibility. If it was big enough it could have done something like this, no problem."

"What are the chances of that though?" Allen couldn't help but ask, blinking.

"Very slim, but a chance none the less." Lavi returned. "I guess the best way to rule that out would be to first investigate the center of the ruin."

Having said that, Lavi hopped down the edge and jogged down the slope, almost taking a tumble a few times as loose dirt slid from under his feet, but there was no way the Bookman-to-be was going to be humiliated and defeated by a hill of loose dirt messing up his footing.

Allen wasn't far behind, having the same kind of trouble, but both made it down without too much hassle.

"Well, no space rocks that I can see," Lavi announced, gazing about carefully, especially as they reached the center. The space was empty and devoid of any sort of object that could have fallen to cause the damage.

Allen sighed. "I guess there's nothing here to be found."

Lavi hummed in thought and remained silent as he stared hard at the site of impact, drawing an inquisitive look from Allen.

"No, I don't think there's nothing here to be found," he announced, shaking his head. He stepped forward and kneeled down in the dirt, brushing his fingers over it. "Rather, I think that whatever landed here has since moved."

The redhead was experienced in many skills and tracking was not one that he had failed to pick up. As such, he could tell, however faint, that there were traces of something. Footsteps.

"Someone was here before us. And it looks like maybe they might've been dragging something…"

He straightened up and followed the traces, spotting darker spots in the dirt. Once again kneeling, he pinched some of the dirt between his fingers, lightly sniffing it.

"I think it's blood. Whoever was here, they must've been injured."

"A survivor from the town, you think?" Allen proposed.

"Maybe." Lavi's eye trailed up to follow a trail of more patches of blood that soaked the soil. "If that's the case, we'd better hurry and find them. They've lost a lot of blood, whoever they are, but we might not be too late if we hurry."

Allen nodded his agreement, the two quickly following the trail up the crater and out into the shade of the forest. For a short while, they lost the trail amongst the undergrowth, but a splash of orange caught Allen's eye.

"Lavi!" He jogged along, his companion not far behind, to find the body of a person collapsed amongst the bushes and leaf litter. Red stained the neon-orange clothes the person was wearing.

"I think we found who we're looking for," Lavi announced needlessly as they came to kneel beside them, flipping the person over.

He looked like he was only a teenager, somewhere around Allen's age. His hair was wildly spiked and honey-blond, three marks like whiskers on each cheek, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with black on the collar and shoulder area.

A gaping wound to the kid's side was the source of the blood that soaked his clothes and he looked pale, like a fully-realized corpse. Lavi was quick to bend over and listen to his chest for a few moments before straightening up.

"It's faint, but he's definitely alive. He's going to need medical care right away though, or that's going to change."

"I'll summon the Ark and we can take him to the infirmary at the Order. The other town is too far away for us to get him there quickly."

Lavi simply nodded in agreement, pulling the unconscious male onto his back and waiting for Allen to take the lead, summoning one of the glowing gateways of the Ark as the two made their way quickly inside.


	2. Different Lands

**Foreigner  
****A Naruto and D Gray-Man Crossover**

* * *

It was a funny feeling…like drifting in nothing.

Where was he, anyway?

Maybe he was dreaming. Was he in his bed at home?

No…it wasn't his house. His house didn't smell like this. He knew that smell. What was it again? Hmm…that smell.

Oh, that's what it was. That hospital smell he really hated. Strange, what had he been doing that he had ended up in the hospital again? Maybe he'd collapsed in training again. He was always pushing it to the limit after all. Kakashi-sensei had probably carried him there.

He was pretty certain he hadn't been training though.

What had he been doing? It was hard to remember. Maybe he'd ask Sakura, if she was around, or perhaps Sai, or whoever else was around.

A soft groan breached his lips as he opened his eyes, letting them flutter open and shut. He heard footsteps and his blue eyes wandered to find who it was but they disappeared just out the door before he could identify them.

He heard a voice just outside saying, "He's waking up. Go alert the Chief right away."

Many minutes ticked by aimlessly before he saw the door open and someone unfamiliar entered the room, a tall man with black hair, wearing a long white coat and hat, a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Umm, fine, I think," the boy replied groggily. "Who're you? One of the doctors or something?"

"No, I'm the supervisor of this place. My name is Komui Lee. Might I ask who you are?"

"Naruto," the blond answered, shifting to sit up slightly. "Naruto Uzamaki."

"I see. You shouldn't move around too much. Your wounds are severe and you need to stay still so they can recover." Komui advised, dark eyes showing concern.

"Hn?" Naruto's gaze travelled downward to his bandaged torso, blinking. "What happened?"

"That's what we'd like to know. It's a total mystery to us."

Naruto hummed in question and looked up at the man, then around the stone-laid room. This was definitely not the hospital in Konohagakure.

"Hey…where am I?"

"Well…you're inside the infirmary of one of our headquarters. I can't tell you everything about what this place is right now, but two of our organizations members brought you here after finding you near death in the woods."

"Near death?" Naruto repeated, somewhat shocked.

"That's right. You were collapsed just outside of a town that had been destroyed…it's nothing more than a crater now." Komui paused and glanced over his shoulder as two young males entered the room.

One had snow-white hair, pale skin, and an unusual scar traveled over his eye on the left side of his face. He had the look of someone sort of gentle but also a certain pain about him that Naruto was keen to pick up on, and looked about the same height as Naruto. His attire was composed of a white long-sleeve shirt overlaid by a grey vest, with a thin red tie, and form-fitting black pants.

The other was a taller male with vivacious, flame-colored hair held up by a green headband, his right eye covered by an eye patch, and his left green eye almost impossible to discern. He bore a boisterous and warming smile, wearing a dark green shirt and bleach-white jeans. The blond also couldn't help but take notice of a small black hammer strapped to his thigh, an unusual accessory.

"Speak of the devil. These two are the ones who brought you back and saved your life."

"Hey, I'm Allen Walker," the white-haired boy introduced himself politely, wearing a smile that felt a little false. "It's a pleasure."

"Call me Lavi," the red-head introduced in a friendly manner, thumbing towards himself.

"Naruto Uzamaki," Naruto introduced again, wearing a slight frown. "Hold on a minute, you said something about a crater and a town. How did that happen?"

Allen and Lavi likewise frowned and gazed at each other, as though one or the other might have an answer.

"Like I said earlier, we're not sure. We were actually hoping that you could tell us what happened." Komui reiterated, getting the feeling that the blond boy was just as at a loss as they were judging by the intense look of confused concentration on his face.

"I have no idea. I can't even remember what I was doing last, if I was at the village, or on a mission…"

Allen perked up slightly. "Mission?"

Naruto only nodded in reply. Allen exchanged a glance with both Lavi and Komui before all eyes were back on Naruto.

"What sort of mission?" Lavi inquired.

"Well…any kind of mission, really. It depends on what sort of missions Granny Tsunade gives me."

"Tsunade?" Allen repeated.

"Yeah. She's the Hokage of Konohagakure, ya know?"

"The _what_ of the _what_?" Allen was now more confused than ever.

"You know. The leader of the Leaf Village!" He grinned and thumbed at himself. "That's where I'm from. I'm a Shinobi of the Leaf, and one day I'll be Hokage too."

"Never heard of it," Lavi shrugged, leaning his back against the wall and earning a scowl from Naruto.

"You've never heard of the Leaf Village? What, do you live under a rock or something?" he questioned somewhat rudely.

"It's the first I've heard of it." Komui stated, looking thoughtful.

"Um…I've never heard of it either." Allen admitted sheepishly, looking between his comrades and Naruto. "Why, should we have heard of it?"

"Well…yeah! I mean, it's only the biggest city of one of the five Great Nations. You know, the city in the Land of Fire?"

All three looked thoughtful but it seemed neither of his other two companions were familiar with it either, Allen shaking his head.

"Nope, sorry…I still don't know where you're talking about."

Naruto wore a look of disgruntled disbelief. "Oh man…look, you guys got a map of countries or something? I can show you where it is if it'll help."

"There is a world map in my office," Komui stated. "However…we won't be able to discuss over it until you've recovered enough to move about first."

"There's no time for that!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing the covers off and swinging his legs to the edge of the bed. "I've gotta get back to my village and find out what's going on!"

"Hold on a minute, your wounds are life-threatening. There's no way we can allow you to move about in your condition, you'll die." Komui interjected, moving to bar his way.

"You don't have to worry about that, I heal quickly enough."

"There's no way you can be healed that quickly. It's only been two days." Komui argued with a stern expression. Naruto made a face and untied the ends of the bandages on his body, letting them fall away. The wound to his side wasn't entirely gone but it was almost completely healed over, making the Chinese man stop in surprise.

"See?" Naruto stated pointedly as he caught sight of Komui's look of shock, which was mirrored quickly by Allen and Lavi. "I'm almost fully healed already, so it's fine if I get up and move around. It's not going to kill me or anything."

"Astounding," Komui breathed, bending over and adjusting his glasses. The boy was right, the worst of the damage was gone as if by magic, and only a little bit of healing remained before it would be invisible to the eye, as if he'd never been injured at all. "You have some very amazing healing capabilities. They might be just as efficient as Kanda's."

Naruto tilted his head. "Who's Kanda?"

"Another one of our organization's members. It was my belief that his healing abilities were one of a kind, but yours aren't very far off from his." Komui marveled as he straightened to his full height once more.

"Is that so." Naruto hummed, only half-interested in this Kanda person Komui mentioned. "Anyway, can we go take a look at this map now? I need to figure out where I am so I can get back to my friends. I'm sure they're wondering where I am by now."

Komui hesitated for a moment before giving in. "We can do that, since it seems there isn't such a great need of making certain you don't exert yourself and die from your injuries, although we should still re-dress your wounds. We wouldn't want them to get infected, at the very least."

Naruto grumbled an incoherent complaint under his breath before nodding his head. "Alright…"

Komui briefly called one of the nurses to wrap what was left to heal of the wound, and for Naruto to get a clean shirt to wear, before the group of four made their way to Komui's office. Naruto couldn't help but marvel at how messy the place was, barely any floor space visible beneath piles upon piles of papers.

Allen caught him staring and smiled at him. "You'll get used to it before long. The Chief's office is a perpetually chronic mess."

"Hey, don't look at me," Komui whined. "It's because of all this paperwork the higher up's force on me. If I had my way, the only thing I'd ever have to do with all this paperwork would be to build a bonfire."

"You could still do that, Chief. Although I don't think Central would approve." Lavi couldn't help but chime in. "They might even make you do even more paperwork _because_ you burned it into ash."

"Don't say that," Komui pleaded, looking both hurt and ill as he leaned heavily on his desk with one arm, clutching his heart as though he was about to have a heart attack at the very thought. "There is no amount of coffee in this world that could possibly help me keep up with that much paperwork…the amount they give me is already borderline barbaric."

Lavi laughed aloud while Allen could only sigh and shake his head. Taking a moment to recover, Komui walked to the large sheet of rolled maps hanging just above his desk and yanked one down, having composed himself once more.

"Well, here it is. A map of the world."

"_Huh?_" Naruto blurted, leaning over the desk and squinting his eyes as he looked at it with the greatest intensity. "You've gotta be either blind or mistaken. This isn't a map of the world."

"Well of course it is," Komui argued.

"No way. Not even close. This map is all wrong."

"This is the most current world map created, listing all recognized countries on the planet," Komui stated, sounding indignant.

"But I'm telling you it's not! It's totally and completely wrong!" Naruto insisted, raising his voice and waving a finger at it. "Totally, one-hundred-percent wrong!"

"Um, I can vouch for the accurateness of the world map. It's not wrong." Lavi insisted.

"I'm telling you it _is_! The world and countries aren't anything at all like that! None of the five nations are even on here. See? It's missing the lands of Fire, Lightning, Wind, Stone, and Water, never mind the other smaller nations in between."

Silence followed as the three Order members looked to each other, each equally as confused as Naruto seemed to be.

"Well…this is an interesting conundrum to be sure. I can't help but wonder what's going on." Lavi hummed.

"I'll tell ya what's going on, whoever sold you this map doesn't know the first thing about all the nations and countries," Naruto harrumphed, crossing his arms and once again looking as though trying to concentrate on something intensely, his brows furrowing together over closed eyes.

"Did you ever stop to consider maybe you're the one who's mistaken?" Lavi proposed.

"But I'm not! I know I'm not! I know how to read a map just as well as the next guy, and I'm telling you, whatever _that_ is, that's not the real world map!"

Lavi placed a hand to his chin in thought. "Tell me, do you remember generally how this map looks? Maybe you're mistaking world map with a country or nation map. Perhaps we could cross-reference it for a match," the red-head suggested.

"Yeah…more or less."

Before long, Komui had a blank piece of paper and a pen in front of Naruto, the blond drawing a rough version of what he recalled the maps looking like.

"See, here's the land of fire, and the Leaf Village is the main city, somewhere in that area. Over this way is the Land of Wind, up above that is the Land of Stone, next to it over here is the Land of Lightning, and way off in the ocean between us and the Land of Lightning is the land of Water." Naruto explained. "And here, between them are a bunch of smaller nations. I don't remember all of them, but there's a whole lot, like the Land of Rain, the Land of Iron, the Land of Waves, the Land of Tea, and a bunch more. Anyway, the five Great Nations are the largest in the world."

"Hm…this doesn't look like anywhere I recognize on the maps." Lavi hummed. "And besides, if they were the largest nations in the world, I'd definitely know them. That's not really accurate. The largest nation has pretty much always been China, since it's one of the oldest united cultures and has the densest population in the world."

"Never heard of it," Naruto deadpanned.

"Well I guess that gives us something in common," Lavi chuckled before looking serious again. "You sure you know what you're talking about? Maybe you hit your head before we found you or something and imagined this place you're talking about. Stranger things have happened."

A hard look crossed Naruto's azure eyes and he clenched his fists until the knuckles turned white. "No. There's no way I imagined all those sixteen years of my life. I'm telling you that what I'm saying is true."

"Well I guess I can't convince you that it isn't, though this whole situation leaves me wondering." Lavi hummed.

"So…what should we do about this?" Allen questioned. Lavi was silent for a few moments with a hand to his chin, gazing down at the crudely drawn map Naruto had sketched out for them.

"I'm not sure…I think maybe I should run this by the old Panda. He might have some sort of answer or explanation that can solve this mystery." He let his hands fall back to his side as he gazed at Allen. "Hey Moyashi-chan, why don't you take Whiskers over there down to the dining hall while I hunt down Gramps and we figure this out? You're probably both starving."

'_Whiskers'?_ Naruto lamented silently.

"Sounds like a plan, and for the last time Lavi, that's _Allen_," the albino corrected with a hint of annoyance. He offered Naruto a smile once more as he took the lead from Komui's office. "Anyway, why don't we go get something to eat? Jerry's cooking is the absolute best."

Naruto grumbled under his breath incoherently as he tagged along. "Yeah, fine…"

_I am kind of hungry_, he couldn't help but agree silently. Even so, he had a lot more to worry about than just getting some food in his stomach. He had to figure out where the Hell he was, and how he was supposed to get back home.


	3. Similarities

**Foreigner  
****A Naruto and D Gray-Man Crossover**

* * *

Naruto couldn't help but grumble a wide array of complaints and profanity under his breath as he walked with his arms crossed in a typical pouty manner.

Really though, the nerve of these people, telling him that he didn't know what the world map was supposed to look like! So sure, he wasn't the smartest person around, he was certainly no Shikamaru-the-second-in-the-making, but he wasn't _that_ dumb.

Of course they'd also saved his life, so they couldn't be _all_ bad, right? He didn't even know them, but they were doing things they didn't have to do to be nice. He had to at least give them credit for that.

Still, it really bothered him, that they were insisting their world map was right when he knew that couldn't be farther from the truth. Just what the heck was going on?

Where in the world was he?

"Um…" Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts and glanced up, Allen giving him a funny look as they walked down the maze-like halls of…whatever this place was. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright!" Naruto snapped, sharply pointing a finger at Allen. "I don't know how I got here or where here even is, everyone here is trying to tell me I'm crazy for saying their faulty map is wrong and insisting that it isn't, and worst of all, I don't even know where my friends are or if they're safe or need me or _anything_!"

Allen blinked at him before his eyes softened in understanding. "I'm sorry…I know how hard that can be, not even knowing if your friends are somewhere safe or not." It was Naruto's turn to blink in surprise. "I'm sure Lavi and the others are going to do their best to get this solved quickly. Hopefully you'll see your friends again soon."

Naruto grumbled somewhat guiltily for having snapped like that and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah…sorry, I didn't mean to take out my frustrations on you, especially not after you guys helped me out like that. It's just…not easy, being separated from your friends, ya know?"

"I can definitely sympathize," Allen agreed, taking the lead again. When they reached the dining hall, Naruto couldn't help but glance around at the groups of people all gathered around the space, dressed in large white coats, all similar in style.

"Are those uniforms or something?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Allen confirmed, nodding his head. "Those are the Finders, they're sort of like our back-up and find information on places we're supposed to go for missions."

"Finders, huh…and what about you? Sounds like you do something different from them."

"That's right. I'm an Exorcist. The Finders investigate strange phenomenon, and if they confirm it's something of interest to the Order, then they deploy us Exorcists to handle it."

"_'Something of interest'_?"

Allen nodded. "I'm not sure how much Komui told you, but we search for powerful items in this world and use them to defend people. Of course, we have an enemy too, one that wants to destroy those same things."

Now Naruto's interest was piqued.

"What kind of powerful items?"

"We-ll…I think maybe it would be better to let Komui explain that. He's better at that sort of thing," Allen sweat-dropped, coming to stand at Jerry's window. Besides, the entire subject of Innocence and the Clan of Noah was mostly considered a secret to those outside of the Order.

It didn't take long for the exuberant chef to make his appearance, leaning out the window.

"Allen~! What can I get for you today? And who's this new face you've got with you?" Jerry probed curiously. "He's not a new Exorcist, is he?"

"Oh, no…nothing like that."

Actually, now that he started to think about it, they hadn't really considered whether or not Naruto might have been an accommodator. It was a little strange that he'd been in the area of that crater and been the only survivor they found, and his healing ability was beyond unnatural. He couldn't help but wonder if Komui was thinking the same thing.

Probably the man was going to plan for Naruto to take a trip to Hevlaska's chamber, so they could find out if he had Innocence. The thought of that gave him a brief flash of memory lane to his own first visit with Hevlaska and he couldn't help but visibly shiver.

"Um…are you okay?" Naruto questioned, tilting his head.

"What? _Oh!_ Um…yes, fine. Just peachy." Allen lied unconvincingly. "Let's see…what do I want today?" he hummed.

Naruto couldn't help but gape slightly as Allen listed off the longest list of food items he'd probably heard a person ask for, thinking that this kid could probably give Choji a run for his money…and with only a small fraction of the fat to speak of. That was of course assuming Allen could really eat all of that.

"And what can I get for you?" Jerry piped, breaking Naruto's train of thought. He hummed and crossed his arms over his chest, gazing at the man in scrutiny.

"I dunno…can you make miso ramen?"

"I can make anything your stomach and heart desires~" Jerry replied happily. "If ramen's what you want, then I'll make up as much of it as you want!"

"Really? As much as I want?"

"That's right," Jerry confirmed, nodding. Naruto hummed skeptically and narrowed his eyes.

"How much is it?"

"Oh, I'm not charging you. It's free, totally on the house."

"Wow, you mean it?" Naruto beamed, his eyes lighting up. "In that case, I'll have four…no, make that five big bowls of miso ramen, and make sure it has lots of fried pork, and don't forget to put some naruto in it to."

Allen tilted his head. "You mean he's supposed to put you in the ramen?"

"Huh? No, that's not what I mean! You know, naruto, that spiral steamed fish slice that they put on top of ramen."

"You're named after steamed fish?" Allen couldn't help but question, blinking.

"No, I'm not. I'm named after a character in a book that my master wrote, _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_!"

"That's certainly interesting." Allen commented.

"Well, if that's all you guys will be ordering, I'll get right to it!" Jerry announced, disappearing back inside the kitchen.

"Come on, we'll go sit down while we wait for Jerry to finish cooking." Allen suggested, leading the way to an empty table. "So…why after a character of a book your master wrote?" he couldn't help but ask. "Didn't you have a name before that?"

"Oh, well y'see, my master was also my dad's master, and my dad decided that he wanted to name me after the character in Pervy Sage's book."

Allen choked audibly before coughing several times, looking taken aback. "Pervy sage? Why do you call him that? Actually, y'know what, never mind. I just decided it's probably better if I don't know."

Naruto couldn't help but give Allen a funny look as the teen took on something of a depressed look and dropped his head between his arms to hide his face.

"Hey…did I say something upsetting?" Naruto asked, sounding remorseful.

"Yes and no…it just sort of reminds me of my own master." After a moment, the albino teen dragged his head up from between his arms, looking haunted. "I think those were the worst three years of my life."

"Really? What was your master like?"

The corner of Allen's eye ticked as he gazed off into space. "A horrible red-haired demon who'd shamelessly throw his apprentice to the proverbial wolves and force him to pay off his master's never ending debts." He sighed mournfully, letting his head fall. "I'm never going to be free of Master Cross' debts…never…never…" He shook his head back and forth as he kept repeating that last word, as if trying to shake off a bad dream.

Naruto could only blink in question until he heard soft, feminine laughter, glancing up to a petite girl with short black hair that came to stand beside their table. She was dressed in a black and red uniform-looking outfit of a long-sleeved shirt and short skirt with thigh-high stockings.

"Reminiscing about General Cross again, Allen-kun?"

"Oh, Lenalee," Allen greeted, glancing up and offering a smile. "You're back."

"Yeah. It looks like you and Lavi returned too." Dark violet eyes turned to Naruto now. He couldn't help but think, _Wow, she's pretty. Maybe even prettier than Sakura._ "Who's this? Did you guys find another accommodator on your mission?"

"Um…well not quite. Actually we don't really know yet, Komui hasn't had any tests done to see if he's one or not."

"I see. Well, at any rate, I'm Lenalee Lee. Glad to meet you."

"Lee, huh? So…are you related to that Komui guy?"

She nodded in the affirmative. "That's right, he's my older brother. I help him around his office when I'm not away on missions."

"That's cool. Oh, and my names Naruto Uzamaki by the way." He grinned.

"Well, like I said before, it's good to meet you. Anyway, I'll be off. I'm sure the science division is missing their coffee right about now. I'll see you a little later, Allen." She offered a wave of parting and walked off.

"Bye Lenalee!" Allen called after, waving her off.

He paused and glanced up at Jerry's window, smiling as he heard the head chef call out, "Order up!".

"Looks like our food is ready," Allen announced, somehow managing to get all the food he had ordered, enough for a small army, to the table. Naruto's amount was nothing to sniff at either but by comparison of the amount Allen had ordered, it was only an orderve.

Forget what he said about being able to match up to Choji, this kid could blow Choji's appetite out of the water. How the Hell did he stay so skinny?

He watched as Allen both eagerly and readily dug in, having downed two plates in almost no-time.

"Man, you sure can eat." He noticed Allen look sheepish and blush slightly in embarrassment under the comment.

"Oh…this? Yeah, I guess I really can," he laughed, not having gotten any comments about his appetite in a while. Everyone he knew had gotten used to it by now, so the subject had stopped coming up. "I mentioned before that we're searching for these powerful items that we can turn into weapons. Mine is kind of rare in that it's a part of my body, so when I fight, it uses up a lot of energy, so I have to eat a lot to maintain it." He paused to shovel some more food into his mouth. "At least, that's how Komui rationalizes it."

"Your weapon is a part of your body?"

Allen nodded, pausing to set his eating utensils down. "When I was born, I had a deformity in my arm."

He rolled up his left sleeve to show off the scaly, black flesh, peeling away the glove covering his hand. He didn't mean to, but Naruto couldn't help but stare a little himself.

"I didn't have any parents, and because of my arm, everyone shunned me, like it was a disease they could catch or something. I didn't know what my arm really was until about four years ago, when it first activated. Since then, my master took me in, and trained me to use it so I could become an Exorcist."

"I see…" Naruto hummed under his breath, his eyes downcast and looking somewhat sad. "…so you're a lot like me."

"Huh?"

"Oh, um, sorry! Don't mind me, just continue," Naruto said quickly, looking a little flustered.

"Well there's not much else to tell. I've been working for the Order since then to protect people and destroy demons that threaten them."

Naruto stopped and perked up slightly, feeling a hint of nervousness at that statement. "Destroy demons?"

"That's right. That's the job of us Exorcists. We gather these weapons scattered all across the world so we can destroy these demons in order to protect the innocents. That's the whole reason that the Order exists." Naruto hummed and fell tensely silent. "So, what about you? I thought you mentioned something…"

"Eh? Oh, um, no, it's nothing, really!" Naruto flailed. "You don't want to hear about me…"

"Actually I'm kind of interested," Allen said honestly, stating exactly what the blond didn't want to hear right now. The whole topic of destroying demons had him a little on edge.

"Um…well y'see, I didn't have any parents growing up either. The day I was born, my parents died. A demon attacked our village, and my dad saved the village from destruction by defeating it, but…he died. He's a hero to the village, but because I had a power inside me, I was shunned too. Everyone in the village hated me, and feared me, and for a long time, I had no idea why, until I found out about the power that I have inside me too a few years ago. Everyone else but me knew about it, so they tried to ignore me and get me to leave the village."

"That's horrible," Allen sympathized earnestly.

"Yeah…I just wanted people to recognize me, so I pulled pranks and tried to get everyone's attention so they'd treat me with respect like everyone else, but I just became more hated. I made it my dream to become Hokage, the most powerful and respected shinobi in the entire village, and I trained really hard to become stronger than anyone else. Anyway, those times are behind me. Since then, I've made a whole lot of friends, and everyone in the village recognizes me now."

"Well that's good," Allen breathed, his mood somewhat lightened. "It really is great, having friends you can really depend on."

"It sure is," Naruto agreed whole-heartedly, before scarfing down some of his ramen. "Oh wow, I got so busy talking I totally forgot to eat. It's not Ichiraku but this ramen is amazing!"

"Yeah, Jerry makes the best food of anyone I'd ever known. It makes just about any mission worth it, when I finally get to come back to headquarters and enjoy some of his cooking." Allen said somewhat dreamily, returning to eating as well.

"Mhm." Naruto hummed around a mouthful of noodles. Both let out a sigh of contentment as they finished eating, stomachs full.

"So, what about this place you come from? You said you get missions too." Allen questioned curiously.

"Oh, well y'see-"

"Allen! Naruto!" Both glanced up as Lavi stood in the doorway. "We found Gramps. Komui's calling you guys back to his office, if you're all finished eating."

"We'll be right there." Allen returned. "Well, I guess we'd better be off then." Standing up, Allen returned his plates to Jerry, Naruto following his example.

The blond stopped at Jerry's window briefly to call out, "Hey, thanks for the food! It was really great!"

"Any time!" Jerry returned delightfully. "Come back whenever you're hungry! I'll be happy to make you some more!"

"Thanks!" Naruto said before running to tag along with Allen. Hopefully now he might get a few answers.


	4. The Broken Cage

**Foreigner  
****A Naruto and D Gray-Man Crossover**

* * *

"Wow, he really does kind of resemble a panda-_OUCH!_" Naruto yelped as he was clobbered over the head, rubbing the spot where a bump was now forming. How did such a short old man manage to reach that high?

"That's Bookman to you," the wrinkled, old man, with the black circles painted around his eyes, stated.

"Hey, Gramps, why did I get hit too?" Lavi whined, a tear of pain glinting in the corner of his eye as he rubbed his head like Naruto.

"Because you're the idiot that taught him that, you red-headed fool." Bookman snapped, giving the much taller teen a glare. He uttered a growl of irritation before seeming to deflate, crossing his arms so that either hand disappeared up the opposite sleeve. "Now then, let's get down to business, shall we?"

"Right," Komui agreed, folding his hands over his desk, looking serious. "Why don't we start off with you, Naruto. What can you tell us that might help? Like, where you came from or how you ended up where you were when we found you, for instance. Anything at all."

Naruto hummed and crossed his arms as he flopped back on the couch, thinking intensely. "Well…that's the thing. I don't remember anything about how I got here…or where here even is. I can't really remember what I was doing before waking up here either. I _think_ I was in my village, but…hmmm…"

"You told everyone here that your village was called Konohagakure, is that correct?" Bookman questioned.

"Yeah, that's right." Naruto nodded.

"Gramps, does that sound familiar?" Lavi questioned, focusing in on the shorter elder.

"No…it's not a name I'm particularly familiar with." Bookman replied, shaking his head.

"Well that's strange…I figured you of all people might know." Lavi hummed, sighing audibly.

The room fell uncomfortably silent and Naruto couldn't help but think hard and try to remember what he could before ending up here. The last thing he could remember was the village…and then…nothing. It was just a big black hole.

But why?

Naruto gasped under his breath and his eyes opened wide, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling.

"No way…couldn't be…" he breathed, jumping up and drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Did you remember something?" Komui questioned, leaning forward with interest.

Naruto only ground his teeth silently as a hand traced to his stomach. He couldn't help but recall flashes of memory from other times, of Pervy Sage collapsed and near death from a wound to his chest, and the giant crater he'd created when transformed into the four-tailed version of the Kyuubi while fighting Orochimaru.

_I couldn't have…not again!_

"Hello, earth to Naruto!" Lavi said, waving a hand in front of his face and snapping him out of his thoughts. "You okay there, pal? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Naruto's gaze was downcast to the floor and when he spoke up it was somewhat subdued. "You said that there was a crater where I was found, right? Do you know anything else you aren't telling me…like what might've caused it?"

"No, we truly don't. Why are you asking?" Komui questioned.

"Because…I think…maybe I made it happen." He didn't bother to look up at the shocked faces surrounding him, already having a general idea of what he'd see. Silence followed until Allen spoke up again.

"You mentioned before that you had some sort of power. Is that what you mean?" Hesitantly, Naruto nodded. "What kind of power is it?"

"Um…well…it's something that makes me way stronger than most other people…but it's sort of dangerous too." He said, deliberately being a bit vague since he was a bit hesitant to openly mention the demon fox after Allen had mentioned that it was their job to destroy demons. "Most of the time I can keep it suppressed, but sometimes it leaks out and causes all kinds of destruction. That's why the people of my village shunned me when I was growing up. They were afraid I'd become a danger to them and destroy them and the village."

"Sounds like a scary thing to deal with," Allen said softly, sympathy lacing his voice.

Bookman hummed in thought and glanced over to Komui. "Do you think perhaps that it could be Innocence?"

The Chinese man placed a hand to his chin and gaze Naruto a critical stare that made the boy fidget nervously. "It's always a possibility…but we won't know until we take him to Hevlaska."

"Um…what's Innocence?" Naruto couldn't help but question. "And Hevlaska?"

"I told you before about my arm," Allen began to explain, turning to face him. "Innocence is what we call the weapons that we use to fight demons, and Hevlaska is able to detect if a person has it when it's unconfirmed, as well as how powerful each user's Innocence is."

"Oh…" Naruto deadpanned, before adding uncertainly, "Well, I don't think that's what it is…exactly…" He trailed off at the end, not wanting to have to explain what he already knew it really was.

"You don't have to be afraid. If this power is indeed Innocence, then we can help you to better understand your power." Komui assured, seeming to misread exactly what had Naruto so worried. "The test is simple and painless, it will only take a few minutes."

"And what if it's not this…Innocence stuff you guys are talking about?" Naruto questioned skeptically. He caught the glance that Komui and Bookman exchanged and couldn't help but realize he was making them suspicious of him.

"Well as far as we know, there aren't many things it can be, but we'll leave those other guesses until we've gotten this one out of the way first." Komui said, standing up and walking around his desk. "If you'll come this way, please."

Naruto hummed nervously, not moving at first.

"Hey, don't worry," Allen assured, offering him an encouraging smile. "The Chief knows what he's doing. It'll seem a little…strange…definitely, but they aren't going to hurt you or anything."

"Um, right," Naruto nodded, stepping to following them, even as he silently lamented, _That's not really what I'm worried about, though._

He followed them to a pyramid-shaped lift that emanated green light, lowering them down the center of what almost appeared to be the inside of a tower or cylinder lined with various doors, until they'd been plunged into darkness. The only source of light was the lift itself, at least at first.

As they delved further, a white light began to illuminate the area until they came face-to-face with a large, glowing worm-like creature, it's face somewhat reminiscent of a woman's, but the eyes were covered by white tentacle-like protrusions.

"Hevlaska, I've brought someone who may or may not be an accommodator, so that you can provide us with some answers."

"I see," a deep, womanly voice resonated around the room from the large creature, waving beams of light reaching for him. Naruto couldn't help but retreat until his back made contact with the railing, gulping nervously.

"H-hey, hey, hold on a moment! I-I changed my mind, I- wait! Stay away from me!" He yelped, whirling around to leap over the railing, only to be caught in mid-air and pulled upward, the blond struggling frantically. "Help! I don't want to do this!"

"Calm down!" Allen called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "You're not in any kind of danger. Hevlaska won't hurt you, I promise!" he assured, offering up some reassurances a certain Branch Chief neglected to give him when he was brought here the first time as well. That day just about gave him nightmares.

Even despite the reassurances, he couldn't help but squirm apprehensively, the sensation of those ghostly appendages penetrating his skin beyond strange and definitely unpleasant, sort of similar to being tickled but also like some foreign energy passing through his body.

That feeling was abruptly overpowered as pain shot along his nerves starting at his stomach, the being known as Hevlaska letting out a gasp and dropping him. Naruto let out a yelp of pain as he landed back on the platform of the lift head-first and toppled over himself.

The blond boy growled in irritation and pain, sitting up to rub his head. "Damn it, that hurt. Why the Hell'd you drop me like that?!"

Komui's dark eyes were watching Naruto before shifting back to Hevlaska again, trying to figure out what that reaction meant. "What is it, Hevlaska? Is it Innocence?"

"No…I can't detect any signs of Innocence…but there's something else. It's something dark and ominous. I've never felt anything like it before."

Naruto's eyes shot up to her before he tensed, a pulse of pain radiating from his stomach again and making him double over with a cry of pain, instinctively wrapping his arms around his gut.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" He could tell it was Allen asking and grit his teeth together. He tried to answer but another pulse of pain made him yell out incoherently again.

"_Damn it_…what the Hell…" He could feel the familiar sensation pooling in his stomach, spiraling energy that was trying to make its way out and manifesting from his stomach as a bubbling, blood-red mass of energy.

He ignored the voices around him and tried to channel his focus internally, closing his eyes to concentrate until he could see the dank tunnels where he knew the fox resided.

Blue eyes seemed to open impossibly wide as he gazed upon the towering gold bars of the cage created by the Tetragram Seal on his stomach to hold the nine-tailed fox captive. The seal on the door remained in-tact, but in the far left corner, the bottom of several of the bars were broken and missing, festering red chakra pooling out of it and swirling around the edges of what remained of those bars, as if to try and finish destroying what was left of them.

"What…just what the Hell happened?"


	5. Facing Demons

**Foreigner  
****A Naruto and D Gray-Man Crossover**

* * *

"_Hey!_ Kyuubi! Just what the Hell do you think you're doing?! What happened?" Naruto screamed, furrowing his brows angrily. A pair of glowing red eyes opened behind the bars to glare back at him in a familiar manner, a deep voice scoffing at him from the darkness of the cage.

"_**That's certainly a stupid question to ask me. What do you think I'm doing?**_" Kyuubi returned in a mocking sort of tone.

Naruto grit his teeth together tightly. "You're the one asking stupid questions. Just stop it! You think I'm simply going to let you escape like this? No way!"

"_**Keh! Still as much of a cocky brat as ever.**_" Kyuubi sniffed, moving closer to the bars so that his large red-brown form was more visible, large white fangs gleaming at him in a snarl. "_**Don't be such an idiot. You can only talk big in front of me because these bars have kept you safe from me, because of this damn seal made by the fourth Hokage, but your own power is nothing compared to my own.**_"

"Just shut up, you damn fox!" Naruto spat, matching his blue-eyed glare with Kyuubi's. "Just stay quiet inside me and stick to your cage where you belong!"

Kyuubi roared furiously and batted his tails against the bars of the cage, making them rattle in their foundations. One tail slipped through the break in the bars and lashed towards Naruto, forcing the blond teenager to leap back out of reach.

"_**Fool! Who are you to spout that I belong here? You're just a dumb brat who happened to become my Jinchuriki for now. If anything you should be grateful about how far I've taken you with MY power, but you're nothing but ungrateful to me.**_"

"I don't want your power!" Naruto fumed. "And I don't need it! All you do is cause destruction and hurt everyone around me. That's no kind of power, not the kind _I_ want! I'm not any happier about being stuck with you either, but I'm stuck with you whether I like it or not, just the same as you're stuck with me, so just quiet down and stop coming out!"

"_**Heh. Don't get too comfortable, brat.**_" Kyuubi snarked, turning his head to look at the hole in the bars of the cage, seeming to grin slightly. "_**I'm only stuck with you for now, but it won't last. The Fourth might have re-done the seal and thwarted my revival the last time I almost convinced you into opening this cage, but he's not here to save you this time and repair this damage. I really should thank him for giving me this opportunity.**_"

Naruto perked slightly and gave the giant fox a look of confusion. " _'Him'_? Him, who? You don't mean that Madara guy, do you?" Kyuubi sniffed and turned away to curl up back in the darkness, not giving up an answer.

Naruto growled low in his throat in frustration and jogged up closer to the bars of the cage. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't just ignore me! Who're you talking about? Are you saying someone did this? Who was it?"

Kyuubi's eye cracked open from the darkness lazily to peer at him. "_**Hmph. You don't know anything. Why should I answer to a demanding idiot like you?**_"

"Would you stop calling me an idiot and just answer my question?!" Naruto yelled, managing to get a rise of irritation from Kyuubi. The teen gasped as Kyuubi rose and lunged at the cage, one large, clawed paw managing to squeeze through the hole in the bars and pin him down, knocking the wind out of his body as it came crushing down on him.

"_**Shut up, idiot! You're loud. It isn't my fault if you can't remember. And anyway, it hardly matters who did me this favor, but if you really want to know so badly, it wasn't Madara. I'd rather deal with you any day over him. It's someone else you're quite familiar with.**_"

Naruto winced as he tried to squirm out from under Kyuubi's paw, feeling as though he could barely breathe under the weight of it crushing his ribs. "Someone I'm…familiar with?"

"_**Maybe you'll remember if you think hard enough. Of course, that's assuming you're around long enough to remember, before I manage to escape this damn cage and regain my freedom.**_"

"I'm not going to…let that happen…" Naruto ground out as he tried to wiggle free. The Kyuubi only grinned maliciously at the little punk's confident audacity.

The gargantuan fox chortled, red chakra fanning out through the ankle-high water of its sealed domain, engulfing the boy entirely, swallowing him up into its swirling mass.

"_**Really now? Let's just test that theory, then.**_"

* * *

Allen gasped and backed away as red energy audibly bubbled around Naruto's body, cloaking him in crimson light that radiated a horrifying bloodlust. It wasn't something that the albino was used to feeling when confronting Noah or Akuma, but it was undeniably something just as fearsome and dangerous, making his pulse race and his mind tell him to run.

It was definitely not a feeling that the teen was used to, only having felt such overwhelming desire to flee like this, that it would make him shake, a couple of times in his life.

_What is this? This overwhelming presence…this sense of existence…it's even more ominous than facing a Level Four._ That was a truly terrifying thought.

A bestial growl rumbled from Naruto as the red energy sprouted a waving tendril from his backside, like a tail, and his blond hair bristled into spikes like the fur of an aggressive animal. Two more flowing tails of energy slow formed and whipped through the air angrily.

Without even thinking, he took a step back, only to freeze as Naruto's head jolted up. The whisker marks on his face were darker than before, the edges of his lips turned black much akin to those of a canine's, and a pair of lengthened, menacing fangs gleamed from beneath bared lips into a snarl.

The most striking feature that caught his attention though were those glowing, demonic, red eyes, pitching his body involuntarily into frozen fear. The eyes of an apex predator.

_This is…that power he was talking about?_

After an eternity trapped in that gaze, Naruto turned his head away, only to leap into the air with such force as to send the lift jarring through the air in the opposite direction, crashing sidelong into the walls of the chamber.

Allen's eyes were closed reflexively for only a moment, clinging to the rail to keep from being thrown from the lift, before he heard an agonized cry from Hevlaska, looking up sharply to see claws formed from red energy ripping into her.

"Stop!" Allen screamed in horror, activating his Innocence in a whirl of white, leaping onto the edge of the lift railing and again after Naruto. For a moment an image of that crater flashed through his mind and he knew he had to do something before whatever Naruto had done there happened here too.

Clasping his wrist, he summoned his Sword of Exorcism as he pursued Naruto. His power wasn't Innocence, so there were other possibilities of what he could be. Allen couldn't help but grit his teeth as he considered the possibility of Naruto being one of the Noah, but if that was the case or it was some other kind of evil, he should be able to exorcise it from the boy with his sword without harming Naruto himself, right?

The red-engulfed teen landed against the opposite wall on all fours, seeming to cling easily to the vertical surface, before those gleaming red eyes turned on Allen and the blond let loose a furious, animalistic roar that sent Allen flying with a visible shockwave.

The next moment he knew, Allen was coming back to consciousness from the rubble of a mini crater in the wall, his entire body aching from the impact.

This…this was definitely going to be harder than he originally thought.

An animal-like snarl echoed about the space as Naruto roared, sounding more beast than human and faintly lighting up the area around him with the glowing red energy that seemed to cloak around his body.

Gleaming red eyes turned onto Hevlaska again and the possessed male leapt forward to attack, blind-sided by a large metal object even as Lavi called out, "Extend!"

The end of the size-shifting hammer sent him crashing back into the wall and pinned him there, Lavi using the opposite wall to keep it lodged into place and try to prevent Naruto from escaping and attacking again, managing to subdue him at least for the time being.

"Allen! Are you alright?" He called over, the white-haired teen shaking his head and still feeling slightly dazed.

"I'll live. Good work, Lavi."

"No problem," the red-head shot back. "But we'd better figure out something quick," he advised, even as he found himself having trouble keeping Naruto down. "Because I don't think this is going to hold him!"

The junior Bookman tensed slightly as red eyes bore into him now, Naruto raising his free hand up into the air before throwing it forward. His physical body didn't move but those red claws of energy extended far beyond his reach and were aimed straight at the redhead, who cursed as he realized he wasn't going to be able to defend while he had Naruto pinned with his weapon.

Luckily he didn't have to, Allen leaping into the way and shielding them both with Crown Clown's cloak, the mystical armor-like cloth not even sustaining a tear.

"Thanks."

Allen only nodded in return before leaping forward, running up the handle of Iron Hammer and using it to take him straight up to where Naruto was pinned. He was more prepared for those energy-claw attacks and nimbly leapt around or over them, making good use of Crown Belt to help him evade.

Only now as he came closer did he notice something strange, bits of Naruto's flesh rising and peeling away, leaving spots of deep red like wounds of some sort, and the snarls that escaped the boy's lips sounded more pained than before, as if whatever power he had was actually ripping his own body apart.

Allen leapt up and started to bring his Sword of Exorcism down, hoping to rid Naruto of whatever was overwhelming and taking over him, but before he could the energy swirling around him formed a black ball that completely surrounded him and then burst apart with tremendous force, sending Allen and Lavi's hammer flying back.

Allen let out an exclamation of pain as he hit the ground, the breath momentarily knocked from his body, but the white-haired teen told himself he had to get up and put a stop to this, struggling to rise.

At first as he glanced up, he couldn't see where Naruto had gone, the small crater where he'd been pinned to the wall vacant. Staggering to his feet, he looked about somewhat frantically before spotting a deep red shape further down, having fallen to the lowest level after being freed from Lavi's hammer.

The form was no longer human, only baring the faintest traces of five fingers and a very vaguely human physique. Long protrusions, either ears or horns of some sort had sprouted along his head, and four long tails whipped about behind it, crouched on all fours.

It was definitely something very animalistic in nature, a set of bloody fangs and glowing eyes, breathing out a red mist with a deep and rumbling growl.

The very presence of whatever Naruto had become now was enough to make the teen sweat with involuntary fear and his pulse race, his mind almost forgetting about even trying to do battle against it.

Compared to whatever…_this_ was, he'd choose to fight a Noah, Level Four, Hell, maybe even the Earl himself any day.

This might have been way more than he was prepared to handle.


	6. Battle against the Four-Tailed Fox

**Foreigner  
****A Naruto and D Gray-Man Crossover**

* * *

It was definitely saying something for Naruto's power, whatever it was, when it was making both Allen and Lavi feel the intense urge to flee.

There were many hard battles they'd faced against powerful enemies that were leagues ahead of them in strength, Tyki Mikk during the battle on the Ark, and the invasion on their headquarters against the Level Four came to mind, but both those opponents didn't have nearly the same sort of overwhelming effect of fear that this thing did.

Even though he fully sympathized with the plight Naruto described having faced when shunned by his own village's people, Allen was also beginning to understand exactly why they must have been so afraid of him.

This was the effect that it was having on the battle-hardened young Exorcist, one who was a critical-point breaker no less. He couldn't even imagine the terror that someone who _didn't_ have the power of Innocence to fall back must have felt when faced with such a fearsome creature.

"So, what should we do about this, Moyashi-chan?"

"Actually I was hoping you'd have a plan," Allen returned, the situation far outweighing the albino's need to remind Lavi not to use that horrid nickname.

"Not yet, but we'd better think up something quick," Lavi said, even as he kept an eye trained on the four-tailed creature that Naruto had turned into. "Because he's about to come this way."

"Yeah," Allen nodded, tensing and preparing to leap away even as he watched the Four-Tails bundle its legs under it and lock eyes on the two. "I know."

In an instant the creature head leapt forward and was almost upon them with little time to dodge, the two leaping in different directions as the Four-Tails crashed headlong into the wall behind them, sending up a cloud of debris loudly.

"…too close…" Allen breathed with a mixture of nervousness and relief, only for it to be cut short as another one of those energy-claws shot after him.

Allen cut through it with barely any time to spare with his Sword of Exorcism, hearing a howl from the beast before a second arm seemed to sprout where the first had disappeared from, coming after him again.

He didn't even have time to utter a curse under his breath, and barely managed to block it with his sword from piercing his body, before he was sent hard into the ground.

While it was focused on Allen, Lavi leapt up behind Four-Tails even as the smoke began to clear, bringing his hammer down on top of him with a battle cry.

"Did I get him?"

At first he wasn't sure, keeping his hammer pinned down, before it was pushed upwards with a great deal of effort and strain on Four-Tail's part, at least at first, from all-fours. Pushing up further, it sunk it's front claws into the face of the hammer and pushed it up further, before a second torso and head sprouted out of the creatures back and hit Lavi away effortlessly, clawing his side.

More than just being sharp, the thing's claws were piping hot and made his body burn like it was actively on fire, the older teen curling over on himself once he hit the ground.

Growling and grinning with malice, the Four-Tails crouched back on all fours and dug it's claws into the floor below it, curling it's tails towards its head as bubbles of blue and red bubbled up from its form, floating in the air.

The bubbles started to come together between agape jaws, turning to a dark purple that quickly compressed, a shockwave creating a small crater where the Four Tails crouched.

"That looks bad," Lavi hissed, struggling to get to his feet and only making it to a kneeling position, his body still burning and not wanting to move, blood seeping from between his fingers where he had his hand pressed to the wound on his side.

Biting down on the ball of condensed energy, the weight of it pulled the Four Tails to the ground, urping up a blood red mist and arching up to fire.

"Damn it, not gonna make it…" Lavi muttered, managing to stand and staggering a few feet before he fell again.

Just as it went to fire, several white ribbons extended outward and wrapped around the Four Tail's neck, yanking it off course so the blast was directed more off the side. Still, the amount of power created by the blast lit up the entire chamber to a blinding degree and created a shockwave that sent Lavi flying head over heels and into a wall hard, knocking the breath out of his body.

It lasted for a full half-minute before the blast dissipated, and when Lavi finally managed to open his eye and look, he couldn't help but gape in shock at the massive hole blasted through the chamber.

_The Chief's gonna have a fit about having to repair that when this is over with…_ he couldn't help but sweatdrop as he pulled himself shakily up from the rubble, using his hammer as a support.

His eye traveled up to where Four-Tails was again, the beast easily using it's claws to sever the wrappings of Clown Belt from it and snarling towards where Allen had been blasted off to, the teen likewise having been thrown and a little dazed, but ready to attack again.

"Allen! Make sure you don't let that thing claw you, it'll do a lot more than just cut you!" Lavi shouted in warning, the teen nodding as he leapt forward, the mask of Crown Clown falling over his face as he leapt forward.

"Right!" He was more prepared for the energy-claws that Four Tail's sent his way, though he still had some trouble dodging as they shifted direction and even sprouted additional arms from the first, running short on breath as he dodged them all.

Using Crown Belt, he lifted himself up above where Four Tails was and dropped down just in front of it, seeming to have caught it slightly be surprise as he slashed through it with his Sword.

The beast roared and lashed out at him blindly, Allen quickly dancing to the side and slashing through it again, taking wisps of red energy with it.

Much to his surprise, the Four Tailed creature let out a caterwaul that sounded pained and doubled over, tails whipping around more furiously now.

After seeming to take a second to recover, it spun around and lunged for Allen, the teen ready as he did the same as before, the red energy surrounding him following the slash like a spray.

Allen froze as he caught hint of the pained cry, sounding more human, like Naruto's voice now than whatever the creature he'd become was as it collapsed forward onto its knees.

_Crown Clown is exorcising whatever this power of his is, so if I keep managing to use it, then he should return to normal,_ he reasoned, determined now more than ever to do so now that he knew he was managing to have an effect.

Four Tails staggered up to its feet and turned on him again, lunging, but the movements were more clumsy and uncoordinated now, practically running itself into the next slash, and just as before the cry sounded more like Naruto's instead of the best, falling forward like before.

This time the red energy that had engulfed Naruto was flickering away slowly, the skin underneath red and raw with wounds and the tails starting to recede.

_A few more and-_

He stopped as several figures rushed by him, tossing out what looked like slips of paper that moved to encase the kid's whole body like a mummy, pulling him to the ground like a lead weight.

The red energy that surrounded Naruto dissipated and his writhing to get free came to a stop even as a harsh voice behind him barked out, "Allen Walker!"

He whirled around to see a taller man with a small, squire mustache, harsh, cold eyes glaring him down.

"Leverrier…"

"You did well to quell this attack, but you're now dismissed. This situation is now in the hands of the CROW unit."

"Hey- hold on a minute. Just what are you going to do?" Allen demanded, his gave briefly shifting to where Naruto lay.

"That isn't your concern, but I'm already aware that this power of his was reported to be something other than Innocence, so we'll have no choice but to detain him. So far, it's looking as though he may be in league with the enemy," he said, harsh eyes turning on the body restrained by the CROW's seals. "And we can't allow something like that to run amuck freely."


	7. Scrutiny

**Foreigner  
****A Naruto and D Gray-Man Crossover**

* * *

"Let it go, Moyashi-chan. You had to of known that Leverrier would want to get a hand in this after that display," Lavi said, sitting slouched and with one hand massaging his side, trying to relieve some of the burning caused by that creature's weird energy-claws in vain.

The nurses had already tended it but the burning simply refused to go away, even after having been given quite a bit of anti-inflammatory.

"Yeah, but we don't really know for sure what that power even was." Allen reasoned, looking tense. "And I really can't imagine Naruto being a part of the Noah. He's so nice."

"That's because you're too nice, Moyashi-chan," Lavi teased with a smirk. "You never think anyone's capable of being a Noah until they reveal it to you."

"Oh, like you're one to talk, Lavi. You didn't know at first either. And that's _Allen_!"

Lavi held up his hands in a placating manner, leaning back. "Hey, I'm just calling it how it is. And anyway, let's say for a moment that he _is_ a Noah. It's only natural that the Order would want to keep him contained, and with immense power like that, I wouldn't blame them."

"Yeah, but he didn't choose it any more than we chose to be accommodators for Innocence," Allen pointed out. "This wasn't like the time dealing with Tyki Mikk, when we first met him on the train that day with Krory. He wasn't just faking being nice when I talked to him or anything, he was really genuine."

"Be that as it may," Lavi began, grumbling in frustration as he rubbed his side again. "It's not really up to us at this point, and anyway, give Komui a little credit. I'm sure he'll at least make sure Leverrier doesn't do anything overtly horrible to Naruto."

Allen sighed and crossed his arms, casting a slight glare down the hall that the CROW were guarding, and not giving any leeway to pass through.

"I guess you're right…"

* * *

Naruto groaned as he came to, lifting his head to gaze about another stone-laid room groggily.

Okay…so where was he this time?

He tried to move his arms, but they were bound. His legs weren't though and he moved to get up, regretting it immediately as he seemed yanked to the ground by an invisible force, his chin striking stone.

"_Owwwww_, what the Hell…? My body's so heavy…" he grumbled, trying to get up, but it felt as if giant lead weights were keeping him stuck to the floor, no matter how much traction he managed to get with his shoes.

"I think you'll find that you won't be able to get up," a harsh voice snapped, making the blond stop and look up as a dark-haired man with a mustache and squinty eyes entered, advancing towards him deliberately and stopping just shy of the boy.

The black-haired man also accompanied him, wearing a grim expression with brows furrowed, and two more cloaked figures.

"Hey, just what the heck is going on here? Why am I all tied up?!" Naruto demanded, not really enjoying feeling so vulnerable, at least not around this guy. The man sort of gave him the creeps.

"A necessary precaution. We wouldn't want you destroying anything else, after all." He replied in a clipped tone.

"Destroying anythi- wait…you're not saying I did something like that, did I?" Naruto questioned, looking worried.

The man scoffed and gave him a disbelieving glare, while Komui beat him to asking the next question.

"Are you saying that you don't remember any of it?"

"Well…no…" Naruto hummed, eyes shifting to the floor as he took a few moments to think about it. "I mean…sort of. I remember being down in that dark place with that…erm…Hevlaska, thing, and then…"

He paused nervously, beginning to recall what had happened, his voice becoming more subdued.

"And then my power surfaced and…nothing." Silence fell between both parties, making Naruto look up uncomfortably and asking with scared hesitance, "I…I didn't…_kill_ anyone…did I?"

"No, thankfully no one was killed, though you managed to rough Allen and Lavi up a bit." Komui reassured him, Naruto breathing a sigh of relief.

"…good…" Naruto hummed, still looking troubled.

"We've already confirmed that the power you hold is not the Innocence we're after, so what we want an answer to is exactly where that _thing_ of yours comes from," Leverrier demanded, not being at all nice about it.

Naruto pursed his lips and sunk lower to the ground, not wanting to even mention the Kyuubi to them.

"Tell me, are you one of the Noah clan, or another ally to the Millennium Earl?" Leverrier demanded, his voice rising in harshness.

"I don't know what either of those are…but I'm not from any clan called _'Noah'_." Naruto mumbled, wondering to himself how much he should say, or conversely, how much he shouldn't.

"I find that hard to believe, after the damage you caused, and since it isn't Innocence it doesn't seem as though there are many other things it could be."

Komui abruptly cleared his throat purposefully, drawing Leverrier's gaze to him.

"Inspector, I believe that it's no mystery among us that those of the Noah clan have striking gold eyes and dark olive grey skin, even when transformed at full power, but it was confirmed between myself, Allen, and Lavi that his eyes and body turned blood red, so it seems like it'd be a stretch to speculate him as one of the Noah."

Leverrier stared hard at Komui for the longest time before down at Naruto, who was watching them through uncertain blue eyes.

"Well then, Head Chief, what would you suggest it is, if not Noah?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Komui admitted honestly. "But I'm sure that Naruto wouldn't mind giving us an explanation, since I get the feeling he knows more about it then we'll ever manage to guess at," he said, giving Naruto a pointed look.

Naruto gnawed on his lower lip indecisively before shifting to sit up, having a hard time of it and almost managing to topple himself backwards when he finally did.

Seriously, what the Hell was it that was weighing him down so damn much?!

"It's not really something that I want to talk about…" he murmured.

"You had better begin to explain yourse-" Leverrier began, before Komui cut him off.

"If you're afraid, then you don't have to be. We're not going to harm you without just cause."

Once again, Naruto gave him a look of uncertainty. "That Allen guy said you guys destroy demons…and I don't want you to think that I'm one, because I'm not."

"You don't have to worry about that," Komui told him. "What Allen meant by that are creatures we call Akuma. They're not demons in your traditional sense of the word, but we often refer to them as such. They're living weapons, created by our Organization's enemy, the Millennium Earl and the Clan of Noah. If you were an Akuma, Allen would have detected it instantly. It's one of his more unique abilities."

That did leave Naruto feeling a little more reassured, and curious as to how Allen would be able to tell, but he supposed that wasn't really important at the moment.

"Um…well, y'see…" he began tentatively, not quite able to bring himself to look up at them. "I do know what it is, actually. Have you ever heard of a Jinchuuriki?"

"It's not a term that we're familiar with," Leverrier prompted curtly.

"I'm one of the ones they call a Jinchuuriki, back in the land I'm from. It means that I'm the vessel for a monster. A demon called Kyuubi; the nine-tailed fox," he explained hesitantly. "My dad sacrificed himself to seal the fox inside me, when it attacked our village years ago, because he thought I could one day control it. There are a bunch of others like me too. Well…a few anyway, for most of the other nine Tailed beasts. He's really powerful though. I can only keep his power suppressed inside me, at least for now, but sometimes he manages to take over anyway, like he did earlier, and he hurts people around me."

He glanced up now and wasn't sure if he was saving or dooming himself explaining this. It was hard to tell with Komui's expression, but he knew he didn't like the other guy's.

"A-anyway…" he continued, when neither spoke. "Normally he stays quiet and can't do anything unless I start to tap into his power, but I- …I think the seal containing him was damaged somehow, which is how he started to take over, but I can't remember anything about how it could've happened or how I got here."

Komui blew out a breath and looked to Leverrier.

"Well, I highly doubt there are any monster foxes amongst the Noah clan," he said, as a way to dissuade any more of Leverrier's paranoid accusations.

"Even so, we can't simply allow some monster to run loose like that," the man snapped unhappily, Naruto not liking at all where this was going.

"Hey, m-maybe if we can figure out a way to fix the seal, it won't be a problem?" he suggested uncertainly. "I mean…just because I _have_ a monster inside me doesn't mean I'm one…and after all, my dad did tell me that he thought I was the only one who could control it, so you don't really have to keep me locked up in here, right?"

Leverrier gave him a cold look, not at all placated. "If you can't guarantee to keep yourself in check, then there's no way we can simply let you run loose."

Naruto turned his gaze to the floor again sulkily.

Komui glanced between the two before going to kneel in front of Naruto, drawing the blond's gaze to him. "Do you know how we might be able to fix this seal you mentioned?"

"Unfortunately…no. I don't really know how to perform any sealing jutsu, and I don't actually know anyone who's still alive in my village that's strong enough and knows sealing jutsu all that well to seal him again either. Kyuubi is too powerful for most to be able to do that."

"I see…" Komui hummed. "What about any other ideas?"

Naruto hummed in thought, furrowing his brows for a moment. "Well…I could try talking to him I guess…but he already hates me."

"So you can talk to this Nine-tailed fox creature?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't exactly say we get along. He's always got this mean glare whenever I talk to him. There's no way he'd ever listen to me. He has no interest in being friends or anything like that."

He paused a moment as he recalled the argument he'd had with Kyuubi just before being taken over and going into Tailed state, grumbling sheepishly, "And…I guess I wasn't really very nice to him the last time we talked, too, so the chances he'll listen to me at all…are even lower."

Komui hummed thoughtfully and stood up again, looking to Leverrier.

"So…what should we do about this, Inspector?" Leverrier was silent as he seemed to speculate just that. "He may even be a help to us in our efforts against the Earl, if we can figure out how to solve his current problem with the seal, and until then, we at least know for sure that Crown Clown is able to subdue this aforementioned fox creature when it does go berserk, as well as the CROW seals."

Leverrier hummed a moment before snapping, "For now, I'll let you have your way, Branch Chief Lee, so long as you can assure me of providing results. However, one more…_incident_…and he'll be transferred to Central Administration, where the scientists at _our_ lab can do a proper investigation into this _'power'_ of his."

The promising, malicious tone of the man's voice admittedly made Naruto gulp slightly as the man turned leery eyes on him, not liking the sound of that and especially not the suggestion of _labs_.

Immediately, needles and freaky experiments came to mind, and the boy knew without a shadow of a doubt that he didn't like the idea of that or this man one bit.

"Very well," Komui nodded, Leverrier taking his leave, and the cloaked figures following him lifting their hands and uttering a few words, the paper seals on him lifting away and the oppressive weight keeping him down suddenly disappearing, before they followed Leverrier out.

Komui breathed out an audible sigh before looking to Naruto, seeming to have relaxed somewhat now that Leverrier was gone.

"Well…I can't say it was the most warming welcome…but I suppose, for now, you'll be staying here as a part of the Order, while we figure out exactly what to do about you."

Naruto nodded, still looking nervous as he asked shakily, "Y-you're not going to do any kind of freaky experiments or anything on me, a-are you? Because I really can't stand the thought of n-needles…"

"No, I promise you we won't do anything like that," Komui assured. "Don't let the Inspector's take on handling things scare you too much. We do things a lot differently here at this branch than those stationed in Central."

Naruto sighed in relief. "Well that's good. So…what now?"

"Well…I suppose for now, we give you the full explanation of who we are and what we do. After that, we'll get you settled in with your own room, and perhaps figure out what you'll be doing here from now on."


End file.
